Can OBD Readers Cause Problems?

[RToth]

Have you tried simply disconnecting the battery and letting it sit for a half hour or so yet? This would be the first thing I would try, easy to do and free.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by RToth

Have you tried simply disconnecting the battery and letting it sit for a half hour or so yet? This would be the first thing I would try, easy to do and free.

I believe he did try that.

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by AussieXer

Thanks for all the responses so far. I thought I would continue my running commentary for the sake of future X5 owners who may have the same problem. I now realise that I definitely should not have used the OBD scanner that I did. I thought that merely scanning for error codes would not have done any harm.
In anticipation of a worse case scenario I rang my local BMW dealer today to see what they would say. When I described the symptoms they said it was most likely that I had damages the FRM (Footwell Module?) and that I would probably need a new one and that would be about $2,500 AUD and that it would probably take 2 weeks to get one out from Germany. I was interested to hear them say that my windows probably would not work but that is not the case. The windows go up and down fine and the headlights still work but not the interior lights. The things that do not work do not seem entirely consistent with a failed FRM. I would be interested in your opinion.

Sounds more like the service writer at the BMW stealership was trying to sell you a FMITR over the phone.

[Qsilver7]

Does the e53 X5 even have a FRM (footwell module)? I thought the FRM was an e70 X5 thing...you know...a new generation thing since they have a completely different communication bus (byte flight/LIN/MOST/BSD/etc).

[RToth]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

I believe he did try that.

Yup, you're right, I just missed the post.

On the topic though, just to make sure, how long was the battery disconnected for? I hate to keep pushing the battery but I just want to make sure all of the simple quick free things are thoroughly looked at before you spend any money.

I know on all the GM cars I've worked on before you disconnect both terminals on the battery and wait a little bit then connect the two posts together and that drains any stored power in any modules, is that something we can do with these BMWs as well? Asking for myself as well as I'm curious.

[Qsilver7]

Yes to the question you asked in your last paragraph above.

[AussieXer]

Gave that a try but only for a couple of minutes. I will try for longer and let you know how I go.

[AussieXer]

Pardon my ignorance upallnight but what is an FMITR?

[AussieXer]

Well I think this may be the final post to this thread as the problem has now been solved. Before I describe the solution I also discovered the sunroof did not work either.
As prompted by a number of forum members I finally went looking for an auto electrician (not the dealer who told me it was probably an FRM) to investigate the problem.
Pulled up in the fore court and made the mistake of turning the engine off because every time I turned the ignition on the alarm would start and run for about 5 to 10 minutes. The auto electrician came out with a set of ear plugs on. Plugged the right kind of scanner into the OBD port and then went to the fuse box in the glove box. In about 2 minutes had found a 5 amp fuse that had blown (I will try to find out which one when I go back on Thursday). Then just as suddenly as they appeared all the faults disappeared.
At the risk of having the scorn of forum members heaped upon me I will suggest that this could be described as a design fault when one 5 amp fuse could totally disable so many quite significant functions. If I had thought that this was likely I would have been more diligent in my examination of the fuses (I did check all the fuses in the back).
So my advice for future readers of this thread: check your fuses (all of them).
I would like to thank all of the members for their suggestions many of which contributed to my finding the eventual solution and prevented me pursuing wild geese (eg footwell modules).
PS Happy to receive suggestions as to a good make/model OBD scanner but I notice that other threads have addressed this issue.
Thanks again.

[upallnight]

Originally Posted by AussieXer

Pardon my ignorance upallnight but what is an FMITR?

Bent over and let the dealer Fuck Me In The Rear.